Author of UFC 158 '.9' weigh-in video files counterclaim

The author of a now-infamous video shot prior to the UFC 158 weigh-ins is attempting to get the clip reinstated following a copyright claim by the promotion.

Nick McDermott, who captured a UFC executive’s “off the record” conversation about weigh-in rules with Nick Diaz, told MMAjunkie.com (www.mmajunkie.com) that he’s filed a counter-claim to a DMCA request filed by the UFC.

“I got a strike on my account because of it,” McDermott wrote via Twitter. “I sent a counter claim and I’m waiting on them to respond.”

The Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA) allows copyright owners to file complaints against parties using copyrighted material without permission. It also provides safeguards for false complaints, which have become a persistent issue for video-sharing sites such as YouTube.

McDermott said his video was reinstated after he complained to YouTube, which suspends accounts with three DMCA “strikes.” But several days later, the clip was again taken down. He then filed a counter notification, which is a legal request to reinstate content in instances were it is “removed or disabled as a result of a mistake or misidentification of the material to be removed or disabled, such fair use.”

YouTube did not respond to an email Thursday requesting an update on the video’s status.

In the video, UFC executive Michael Mersch is seen telling Diaz and his camp that the pay-per-view event’s overseeing athletic commission, Quebec’s Regie des alcools des courses et des jeux, would not count decimals when he and welterweight champ Georges St-Pierre weighed in for their headlining title fight. He also says the fighters will have an extra hour to shed weight if either is over the 170-pound limit, which with the decimal allowance would be 170.9.

It is widely accepted that there are no weight allowances for title fights.

A longtime MMA promoter based in Quebec said the commission not only counts decimals but doesn’t provide additional time to cut weight, as previously reported. On Wednesday, the commission claimed it doesn’t count decimals and said no UFC 158 fighters exceeded the weight limit determined by their contracts.

McDermott declined additional comment on the video, which was shot in the stands of Montreal’s Bell Centre.

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